


“You’re ours. And you matter.”

by xoxoLibro



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Pogues (Outer Banks), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:14:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24363376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxoLibro/pseuds/xoxoLibro
Summary: JJ and Kie comfort each other (😉) after a run-in with his dad.This scene is set a few months after John B and Sarah went missing. JJ has been staying at the Chateau and decided to clear his stuff out from his dad's place. Of course, Kie wouldn't let him go alone.Kiara has broken things off with Pope, and while the three Pogues tried to go back to normal, Kiara and JJ's relationship has taken a turn. For the steamy. It's still a secret from everyone, including Pope!
Relationships: JJ & Kiara (Outer Banks), JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks), jiara
Comments: 18
Kudos: 162





	“You’re ours. And you matter.”

**Author's Note:**

> My first ever fanfic, so I'd love to hear what you think!

I can feel the tension radiating off of JJ, the closer we get to his dad’s place. Not _his_ place.

It’s never been a home. And it sure as hell doesn’t hold any family. Not really. Piece of shit sperm donor fits his dad better. I open my mouth to say as much, but one look at JJ in the passenger seat and I swallow my words back down. His jaw is tight, the muscles working as he grinds his teeth.

Instead, I reach for his hand. His fingers are long and thin, and I wish I could kiss away the scrapes on his knuckles from the last time he was here, but he wouldn’t appreciate the kindness. Not right now. Not when he’s trying so hard to be strong.

I tried to talk JJ out of coming. There’s plenty of clothes at John B’s that he can use, but he refuses to touch anything. Won’t even sleep in John B’s room, despite the fact that it was always a toss-up which one of us would end up in there after a night of partying anyway. Says it’s not right. But I know what he really means.

If he starts taking John B’s stuff, if he officially moves into John B’s room, it means he doesn’t think John B will be back for any of it.

And I don’t know if that’s something JJ will ever accept. Honestly, I don’t know if any of us ever will.

We arrive at Maybank’s house way too quickly. JJ pulls his hand away, making a fist and scrubbing it on his shorts. I stop in the middle of the road, my blinker clicking in the silence. We could drive on, right now. No one would have to know.

“Just do it, Kie.”

It’s all I can do not to turn back around, but if he can walk back into that house, the one that literally gives him nightmares, then I can, too. “In and out,” I say, turning into the drive. “We’ve got this.”

JJ jerks out a nod, eyes scanning the yard and the front porch, landing on the salt-rusted truck parked half in the grass. “Too much to hope he wouldn’t be here, huh?”

I pull to a stop, the porch steps just on the other side of JJ’s door. If Maybank decides to make this hard, I don’t want the car to be far. “Sure you don’t want me to come in with you?”

“Nah,” JJ’s smile is gone almost as quick as it came. “The last thing I need is your big mouth riling up my ol’ man.”

“ _My_ big mouth?” I shove at his shoulder. Dick.”

“Not now, Kie.” JJ throws open his door and steps out. He looks back, smirking around a hunk of his messy blond hair. “You can play with it later.”

With a roll of his eyes, he’s gone, skipping up the steps before I realize just how he twisted my words. I’d flip him off, but he wouldn’t notice. That sharp mind is already inside, deciding what he needs, what he doesn’t, and how to get out without pissing off his dad. His black combat boots barely make a sound on the sagging porch steps. A lifetime of walking on tip toe will do that to you, I guess.

Checking my mirrors, I try to reassure myself that if he’s cracking jokes, he’s alright. The coast is clear, so I let my head fall back and watch the front door.

I know better.

JJ’s mind is in the gutter, whether he’s high or sober, fishing, fighting a Kook, or kissing me till my toes curl. No matter what he says, being here messes him up inside. Shit, he’s always messed up inside, but being here, at his dad’s place, it shrivels up all the real parts of him that make me smile.

Rolling down the windows, I shut the car off. It’s hotter than sitting in the Cat’s Ass with this noon sun roasting the island, but I need to hear what’s going on in there. JJ might’ve told me to stay in the car, but if something goes sideways, I’m going in there. And I’m definitely taking the baseball bat that I dug out of John B’s closet and stashed in the back seat.

It’s quiet. Too quiet. I bounce my knee just to have something to do.

The screen door creaks and I sit up. It’s just JJ. He has the first load and he flashes me a quick, reassuring smile. I hop out to open the hatch and he throws in a duffel and a couple of grocery bags full of clothes.

“He’s passed out on the couch. Won’t even know we were here.”

“Awesome.” I smile for his sake, but I won’t relax until we’re back on the road. “So, there’s no problem with me coming in for the next load, huh?”

“Nice try.” He gives me a flat look over his shoulder and heads back inside. I’m restless. I want to help. I want to be gone.

The sun beats down on my shoulders and I wind my long hair into a bun to get it off my already sticky neck. I look around for a bit of shade. Even I don’t have enough melanin to keep from burning in this. My options are the car or the front porch, so I hoist myself into the back of my SUV to wait. It’s even hotter in here, but at least the sun isn’t beating down on my skin. Kicking my legs, I try to stir up a tiny breeze.

The screen creaks for the second time, and I lean forward. JJ’s back with a box that he shoves in beside me. “Just need to grab my fishin’ gear, then we can blow this popsicle stand.”

“What do you think you’re doin?” Maybank’s voice scrapes across my skin like sand kicked up in the wind just before a storm.

The grin on JJ’s face, the one that promises trouble or sex or both, slides right off into the dirt at our feet. He straightens up, his eyes focused somewhere over my shoulder.

“You stealin’ from me? From my house?”

“Just grabbing some of my stuff.” JJ turns around to face his dad, and I don’t miss the way he stands just in front of me. Blocking my view or his dad’s, I’m not sure. “We’ll be gone in a minute.”

“I own everything in that house. So, if you’re taking something, you’re stealing.” Maybank lets the door slam behind him, turning to take a seat on the old sagging couch against the siding. “I could call the cops on you and your little girlfriend, but I think I’d rather beat your ass for touching my shit.”

“JJ,” I whisper, laying my hand between his shoulder blades. _I_ _’m here. I’m right here._

His muscles are vibrating with tension beneath my palm. “Everything I got, I bought for myself.”

“My roof. My rules.” Maybank slings back a drink from his beer and smiles. Daring his son to do something about it.

“Yeah, fuck that.” I can feel the dampness of JJ’s sweat the moment the sunbaked air touches my palm where his body had been. Toward the house and up the steps, he doesn’t hesitate till his dad lurches up, standing in front of the door.

He pulls to a stop and my stomach turns over. I can’t watch this. Don’t want to see this replay of JJ’s childhood. I’ve always known but I could never have truly _known._ Not until this moment. I almost look away, but for him, I won’t. I’ll witness whatever happens and I’ll pick up the pieces afterward.

“Look, can we just…not do this?” JJ’s voice is strained. “For once?”

I can’t imagine the effort it’s taking him to keep his cool.

When his dad doesn’t answer, he adds, “I’ll grab my clothes and go. Then we’re done.”

Maybank looks him in the eye and takes another swig of his beer. JJ’s fist clenches at his side and I barely recognize his voice when he says, “Move.”

“Make me.”

When JJ doesn’t move, Maybank draws his fist back faster than a shark lunging for its prey, faster than I even thought possible for his junkie ass.

JJ retreats a step, throwing up his arms, but Maybank just laughs instead of hammering down the punch. “Didn’t think I raised a lil bitch.”

“Piece of shit!” I didn’t even realize I was going to speak till I was halfway across the yard. “Big man beating on his own son.”

“Shut up, Kiara” JJ’s eyes are still locked on his dad, ready for anything.

“How fucking weak do you have to be to—”

“Kie, get back in the car.”

“Nah, I think your girlfriend wants a piece of me.” Maybank pushes his son to the side and JJ smacks his hand away. “Come on little girl. You want to say that to my face?” His bloodshot eyes, bright blue like JJ’s, narrow as he focuses on me.

“You’re pathetic.” My foot is on the bottom step. “And it’s me that should be calling the cops for all the—”

“Damnit, Kie!” JJ whirls, crowding me back down into the yard. “Will you get in the goddamn car?!”

His dad is still mouthing off, something about a real man, but everything fades away when I see the look on my friend’s face. JJ, the bravest, most reckless person I know, is afraid.

“Alright, fine!” I jerk my arm out of his grip, irrationally angry at him for not letting me have a piece of his dad.

“Let’s just go.”

“Whatever.” Turning my back on Maybank and this hellhole, I head for the driver’s side. “Fuck this place.”

Slinging the door open, I glance across at JJ, already in the passenger seat and staring straight ahead, just in time to see his dad launch his beer bottle. It nails the rim of the open passenger window, spewing beer all over JJ and the inside of my car. He sits frozen, warm beer dripping from his chin, and I would’ve never thought he could look so small.

In that moment, I understand that saying about seeing red. The torn rubber grip of the bat is soft in my hand, the metal warm. I blink and I’m halfway across the yard.

Maybank’s eyes light up, and a distant part of me knows I’m giving him the fight he was gunning for. He comes down off the porch to meet me. “You got balls kid.”

I would threaten him, but I’m not even capable of words. When I swing, I’m going for a homerun. I’m going to make it so he never even looks at JJ ever again.

I never knew hurting someone could feel so good.

The old man curses, staggering to the side, and holding on to his ribs. I hope like hell I broke something. Rearing back, I go to swing again, but this time Maybank catches the bat with both hands.

“That all you got, bitch?”

He yanks at the exact same moment arms catch me around the waist. I know it’s JJ without having to look. I know how his body feels against mine. But instead of helping, he whirls me around, taking my feet off the ground, and I lose my grip. “No!”

Then I feel the impact of the hit all the way through JJ’s chest and into my back. It hurts more than if the metal had connected with my own flesh.

He grunts, stumbling a step, but he doesn’t drop me. Doesn’t stop moving. “I got you, Kie. I got you.”

My bat. The one I brought to protect JJ with. That bastard used _my_ bat to hurt _my_ best friend. Something snaps inside me and I scream. I have no idea what I’m shouting, but I’m going to kill his dad. Planting my feet, I try to lunge back toward Maybank, but JJ doesn’t stop towing me out of range.

“Get back here, bitch!” He yells across the yard. “I ain’t finished with you.”

I scream, “fuck you,” so JJ doesn’t have to.

JJ doesn’t put me down until it’s on the passenger seat of the car.

“Please,” he growls, caging me in with his body. The muscles in his shoulders are taut, clenched against a blow that doesn’t come. “Kie, just…fucking stay.”

He slams the door behind me and runs for the driver’s side. I keep my eyes on him so I don’t look back at Maybank. If I see that bastard again, I don’t know what I’ll do.

We peel out, spitting gravel and dust into his face. JJ takes us through the yard, bouncing us through the ditch, and back out onto the road.

He doesn’t say a word and I don’t know how to break the silence. So we just ride, the wind beating at us through the open windows, letting the anger and adrenaline drain away. We make it to the Chateau in record time, rolling to a stop behind John B’s van.

Neither of us move. There’s something in the car with us. Something I don’t understand, and I have to fight back tears. If I cry, JJ will comfort me, and I need to make sure he’s okay first. I take a deep breath, but the words don’t come. What can I possibly say?

 _Are you okay?_ Obviously, not.

 _I’m sorry._ It’s his dad who owes him a lifetime of apologies.

 _You never have to see him again._ I can’t promise him that.

I discard one idea after another. This moment is important. Monumental. I can’t fuck it up. I’ve witnessed something JJ has never, ever let any of us truly see—his reality.

And as much as I’m afraid to watch him break down like he did in the hot tub, I’m a thousand times more worried about what it does to him to keep it all bottled up inside. Maybe if I slip him a few beers later, he’ll let me ask questions without tugging at my bikini strings to distract me. But right now, I need to reach out to him. Remind him that he isn’t alone. That whatever he needs in this moment, I’m here.

When I finally turn to check on him, I realize he’s shaking. Both hands are gripping the steering wheel so hard the leather creaks, his whole body trembling.

_Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry._

“Hey.” Reaching for his arm, I peer up under the messy blond strands hanging over his eyes. “You’re okay, JJ.”

I try to pull one of his hands free, but his muscles are locked tight. His jaw works and his nostrils flare as he tries to speak. “I can’t. I…Kie, if he…I’d kill him.” A breath shudders out from deep within his chest. “If he touched you, I’d kill him.”

A chill runs down my spine. JJ isn’t afraid of what his dad could’ve done to _him_ , but what his dad could’ve done to _me_. And he’s terrified of what it would’ve driven him to do. Of the lengths he would have gone to protect me. How close we came to doing something we could never come back from.

“Come here,” I say, tugging on his wrist again, and when he lets me in, I slide across the console and onto his lap. “It’s okay. I…I’m okay.”

I hold as much of his lanky frame as I can, squeezing him till neither of us can breathe. I may not have the right words to make this better, but this is something I can give him. It takes a second, but his arms, usually so strong and sure, slide carefully around my waist.

“I’d _kill_ him.”

“Shhhh. We’re okay.” We’re wedged in so tight it’s hard to move, but I stroke my thumb back and forth across the side of his neck, whispering reassurances. Slowly, the tension begins to drains away.

“Babe,” he gasps out, finally holding me back, crushing me to his chest. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

I smile into his hair where he can’t see me. “Babe?”

“Shut up, I’m under duress.” He takes a long, deep breath and loosens his hold, stroking his hands up my back and down over my hips. “But next time, stay in the goddamn car.”

“Whatever. That asshole had it coming.”

“I’m serious, Kie. I can handle his bullshit. I’m used to it.”

“That’s the fucking point, JJ!” I pull back, gripping his face with both hands so he has to look at me. “You shouldn’t _be_ used to it. It shouldn’t happen, not to you, not to anybody. He deserves to get a piece of it back.”

“It doesn’t matter—”

“It matters, JJ. It matters to me. And it matters to Pope. And it mattered—” My voice cracks. “To John B.”

His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t look away.

“You’re ours. And you matter.” I take a deep breath and open my mouth, but whatever I was going to say next is lost when his lips crash into mine.

He kisses me like it’s the first time. Like we haven’t been jumping into bed together every day for weeks. Like he’s starving. For a distraction. For comfort.

For me.

A warm breeze flicks at my back from the open window, but it has nothing on the heat building between us. Usually JJ lets me lead, down for whatever as long as every inch of his body is pressed against mine. But this time is different.

His hands press my hips against where he’s gone hard and I gasp into his mouth. He tears his lips from mine, taking a fist full of my long hair and pulling my head to the side. He sucks and nips at my neck, making heat gather low in my stomach. His free hand rips my tank down over my shoulder, teeth following.

I like this JJ. A lot.

I’m gasping for air and my lips are tingling. Hungry for his mouth. His skin. But I don’t have the will power to stop to interrupt him. Yanking the neck of my shirt down, he shoves aside my bikini top, still pinning me in place by my hair. He leans forward but can’t quite reach, so he presses me back against the steering wheel with a growl.

The horn blares underneath my shoulder blade, making us both jump

JJ finally looks up, his blue eyes heavy-lidded and out of focus. “House?”

I nod and he fumbles with the door, shoving it open without taking his eyes off me. Instead of letting me climb out, his hands grip my ass as he slides to his feet.

“JJ, I can wal—”

He takes my mouth again, his tongue scraping against mine, and kicks the car door closed. I don’t know how we’re going to make it to the Chateau without looking. I don’t even care if we make it to the Chateau. _This_ JJ could lay me down right here in the dry grass and I wouldn’t complain.

Come to think of it, there isn’t much I wouldn’t let _this_ JJ do to me.

“Fuck,” JJ curses a moment later, tipping me sideways as he misses the first step. He barely catches his balance before we fall, setting me down hard on the planks of the porch. A grin spreads across his face as his eyes trace my body. My mouth goes dry. With an approving nod, he drops to his knees. “Here’s good, too.”

\----

I have no idea how long it takes us to make it into the house. Eventually we do, minus our clothes. We stumble through the door and toward the sofa bed, until the cool bar of the frame presses into the back of my calves. I’m about to fall back, pulling JJ down with me, when he spins me.

His hard chest presses against my back, and I try not to think about how this mirrors our position from earlier. This time I’m surrounded by his warmth. By the body he used to shield mine from harm. I melt back into him.

Safe.

My eyes fall closed and I try to breathe through the fog in my mind. _How does he do this to me?_

His left arm wraps around my waist. The fingers of his right-hand skim over my skin, trailing across my stomach, between my breasts, slowing to a stop as he presses his palm over my heart. It’s both firm and tender, and if he weren’t holding me so close, I’m not sure I’d still be standing.

“Do you want this?” He breathes into my ear, his cheek pressed against my hair.

We’ve been here fifty times before, but this time, it feels different. He feels different. Deep in my chest I know what he’s really asking.

_Do you want me?_

I lay my head back against his shoulder, high on whatever this is growing between us. The sharp lines of his face are shadowed against the sunlight streaming through the windows. How can one rough-around-the-edges boy hold so much beautiful?

In that moment, I know that I do. I want him.

I want the sex and the teasing. I want coffee in bed and cuddling in the hammock. I want to walk down main street holding his hand. I want to stop lying to Pope and hiding from my parents. And I want to love him so hard that maybe, just maybe, some of those scars on his heart start to fade away.

Love.

I’m not sure I’m ready. Or that he’s ready.

“Kiara?” JJ’s brow creases. He starts to loosen his hold but I grab his arm, holding him close.

“Yes.” I press my hips against him so he knows exactly how much I mean it. “Yes, JJ.”

He hisses out a breath, and thrusts back, his arm flexing as he fights to keep his control. “Hold on.” With a quick kiss, he releases me. I sway, but he’s back before I can fall. Foil rips and a moment later, his arms are around me once more. He slips one hand behind my left knee.

“Lift up, baby.”

That name again. Hearing it on his lips makes my heart do funny things in my chest. Does he have any idea?

JJ raises my leg, placing my foot on the sofa bed before me. He steps closer, his body heating every inch of my back, and tilts my chin up.

“Don’t you want to—”

His lips steal my words, and when he presses into me long and slow, my mind goes completely and deliciously blank. His movements turn harsher, his body demanding something from mine, lost to this spell of us. When I wobble, JJ pulls me back against his chest and everything makes sense.

We’re unmoored. Nothing to hold on to but each other.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.


End file.
